In many manufacturing assemblies, adhesive joining is very common for a variety of different types of materials, including metals, composites such as polymer-composite materials, and others. Such joining can also be carried out with different types of materials. One joining approach involves applying a viscous adhesive that joins respective structures. For instance, viscous adhesive can be applied on cured fiber reinforced composite (FRC) and used to bond the FRC to other structures.
While many joining approaches have been employed for years, they can involve labor-intense manual processes with limited reproducibility. Complex joint geometries such as T-joints can be challenging to fabricate, sometimes requiring numerous fixtures and lengthy manual assembly steps.
These and other matters have presented challenges to joining components, and to the formation of joint structures, for a variety of applications.